How a Mass in German led to a new beginning

The email was ordinary enough: Attend the German Mass This Sunday at Old St. Mary's, and hear the Munich Harmonic Brass play the Schubert Mass.

But it changed everything.

Coincidentally, Older Daughter had mentioned a few days before that she'd like to attend a Mass in German at this gorgeous church, and when I got the email, it seemed perfect.  After all, that Sunday was her birthday.

So last-minute plans were made, a substitute musician was found, and away we went.

We arrived at the church quite early and were relieved to see the security officer at the steps of the church, since it's in mission territory (to put it politely.) As we left the car, we could hear Gregorian chant coming through the open windows.  Hurrying in, we hoped to hear the end of the prior Mass, but were surprised to hear that they had only just finished the Offertory chant.  Bonus!  So we were able to attend the last half of the Novus Ordo Latin Mass.  (The Extraordinary Form was celebrated at 7 a.m.)  By the time Mass finished, there were only 15 minutes left until the Mass in German.

Now you may have thought when you started reading that having a brass group playing music at Mass would be quite irreverent and obnoxious.  Secretly, I may have thought it myself, and I'm pleased to say I was completely wrong.  The instruments were completely tamed and mastered by their players, and the music was not only superb, but reverent.  The music truly was part of Mass and never felt or sounded like a "performance." This is the Mass that I play at my church job, and having learned to pronounce German during Class Voice at university, I was pleased to be able to sing along most of the time.

It was during this day that I fully realized that at this time next year, my two oldest children will have left home-- one for grad school (perhaps abroad) and the other for college.  We have little time left to enjoy leaving at the last minute for a weekend (especially for Sunday Mass, since we are "church tourists") as a whole family based out of our home.  Although this greatly saddens me, especially since I like my children and enjoy having them around, I have become determined to make the most of the time we have left, and to that end, I sent my resignation last night to the rector. I have no plans to pursue another weekly organist job, but will instead market myself as a substitute.

Already, I arranged to take improvisation lessons after the new year with a Catholic cathedral organist. I'm obligated to my current job for another three months, although I hope to be released before that.  The new year should bring a fresh beginning to the next phase of our lives.